In Short

A roundup of today's other news stories in brief

A roundup of today's other news stories in brief

Court to hear plea by widow of Liam Lawlor

The widow of the late Liam Lawlor TD will apply to the High Court next Monday for a stay on the Quarryvale two module of the Mahon tribunal.

Hazel Lawlor secured permission from the court yesterday to make the application. The court heard the tribunal is due to start hearing the module on April 30th, with 88 witnesses due to give evidence.

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The tribunal had been due to issue an updated opening statement on the first day with developer Tom Gilmartin due to take the stand after that. Taoiseach Bertie Ahern is listed as the second witness after Frank Dunlop to give evidence after May 22nd.

Yesterday, Mr Justice Iarfhlaith O'Neill said the application was clearly a matter of urgency and he told both sides to be ready for hearing on Monday next. Ms Lawlor wants to stop the tribunal making findings of serious misconduct against herself or her late husband unless supported by evidence proven beyond reasonable doubt.

Trócaire to get €116m State aid

Government funding to aid agency Trócaire will more than double, from €52.7 million to €116 million, for the next five years.

The agreement between Trócaire and Irish Aid, the Department of Foreign Affairs' overseas aid section, will run from 2007 to 2011.

Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Conor Lenihan said: "The scale of the agreement is indicative of the importance that Irish Aid attaches to the work of Trócaire."

The aid agency's director, Justin Kilcullen, said the Government had doubled its annual funding to Trócaire in the past three years.

The increased funding meant Trócaire could expand its work with the most vulnerable people overseas, plan more effectively and have far greater financial security, Mr Kilcullen said.

Funding to agencies through Irish Aid increased from €98 million last year to €121 million in 2007.

Man remanded on murder charge

A 32-year-old man was yesterday remanded in custody after he was charged with the murder of his former partner whose body was found at his flat in Clonakilty in west Cork last week.

Hadim Kedik, who is Turkish, was charged yesterday at Macroom District Court with the murder of 30-year-old Rose Patterson, from Clonakilty, at Connolly Street in the town, between April 11th and April 12th last.

Judge James McNulty remanded Mr Kedik in custody at Cork Prison to appear again at Skibbereen District Court next Tuesday.

Kilkenny music festival cancelled

Kilkenny's summer tourist season received a setback yesterday with the announcement that the annual Source music festival will not take place in June. The financial loss to the city has been estimated at €3 million in revenues for hotels, pubs and shops.

Last year, the event at the GAA's Nowlan Park stadium featured Bob Dylan.

A spokeswoman for Aiken Promotions said the cancellation was due to "a combination of factors" including being "unable to get a suitable act for Kilkenny" and being "busy preparing for the Marquee Cork festival", which will feature bands such as The Who and Status Quo.

Incinerator protest at council

An Bord Pleanála was "attempting to silence citizens", protesters against the proposed Poolbeg waste incinerator said yesterday.

A "small symbolic" protest was held outside Dublin City Council's civic offices, with residents from areas that would be most affected by the incinerator - Sandymount, Ringsend and Irishtown - saying the time and location of the oral hearing into the proposed incinerator made it impossible for most objectors to turn up.

The hearing starts this morning at Croke Park on the northside of the city.

Rory Hearn, organiser of the protest, said people were "really angry" about the time and location of the hearing.

Paisley jnr to speak in Dublin

Ian Paisley jnr is to speak in Dublin today at the Reconciliation Networking Forum, a meeting of cross-community and cross-Border groups, which receive funding from the Department of Foreign Affairs, writes Marie O'Halloran.

The Democratic Unionist Party MLA will address some of the 39 groups, which between them have been allocated almost €1 million in grants for their work.

Mr Paisley and Minister for Foreign Affairs Dermot Ahern will then visit part of an exhibition at the National Museum at Collins Barracks, Soldiers and Chiefs: The Irish at War at Home and Abroad, 1550-2001.

They are expected to look at the section on the Irish who participated in the first World War.

Mr Ahern yesterday announced grants totalling €948,000 which are provided through the department's reconciliation fund, established in 1982.

The Minister said that a specific budget of €135,000 had been set aside this year for groups "seeking new and effective ways" to tackle sectarianism.

Inquiry into farm accident death

The Health and Safety Authority has launched an investigation into the death of an 81-year-old farmer in Co Kilkenny.

Pat Dermody was working on the farm at Lodge Park, Freshford, at 9pm on Monday night when a tractor moved forward injuring him seriously.

In Co Carlow, a 33-year-old man was killed last evening following a fall through a perspex roof at an industrial park in Newtown, Bagenalstown.

The victim was named locally as John O'Dwyer, of Beechwood Close, Royal Oak Road, Bagenalstown, a married man and father of two young children. It is understood that Mr O'Dwyer was laying broadband cable.

An elderly man was killed yesterday in Mullinavat when the car he was in crashed into a pole. Gardaí in nearby Thomastown, Co Kilkenny, are seeking witnesses to the crash, which took place at about 5.30pm.

Funeral of Kerry murder victim

The funeral of 30-year-old murder victim James Brazier, who died after an attack in the early hours on Sunday in Killarney, took place yesterday at the Church of the Resurrection on Park Road.